News International said it monitored lawyers Mark Lewis and
Charlotte Harris, an act the company called “deeply
inappropriate in these circumstances,” according to its
statement today.

The company is being investigated for potential hacking of
thousands of people’s phones by its News of the World tabloid,
which was shuttered in July as the scandal expanded. The
Guardian newspaper reported earlier that News International had
hired private investigators within the past 18 months to
secretly videotape Lewis and Harris and their family members.

“News International’s enquiries have led the company to
believe that Mark Lewis and Charlotte Harris were subject to
surveillance,” the company said. “This action was not condoned
by any current executive at the company.”

News Corp.’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch,
38, who was in charge of the company’s European operations, has
been re-called to a U.K. government committee hearing on Nov. 10
to answer questions about how much he knew about the extent of
hacking at its U.K. newspapers.